Brief Introduction
Hi (Salam), I am Ibrahim Ghanem, a PhD candidate at the
Department of Geography, Geomatics, and Environment (GGE)
of University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) (2022-Present).
I am intrinsically motivated about creating healthy and inclusive places, using data-driven and community-informed approaches.
Research interests: health/medical geography, neighbourhood environments and health, contextual and non-medical determinants of health,
physical activity, walkability, immigrants health, and spatial access to services.
Analytical skills: quantitative geography, mixed-methods, Geo-spatial data science, spatial econometrics, Geographic information systems (GIS),
statistics, and cartography.
In my free time, I am either practicing Olympic recurve archery, exploring maps created by ancient geographers and explorers
(e.g., Alsherif Al-Idrissi, Zakariya Al-Qzwini, and Abu El-Hasan El-Masudi), or discovering hiking trails and nature (See
glimpses from my journeys).
PhD Dissertation in one minute
The dissertation investigates how built-environment shape the health of Canadian racialized communities, with a focus on the Arab population. The first part examines the association
between objective walkability metrics and chronic diseases. The second part shifts to understanding perceived walkability among Arab residents through a mixed-methods approach
that include participatory mapping and analysis of neighbourhood characteristics. This understanding will help in adapting the Neighbourhood Environment Walkability Scale (NEWS)
to reflect the experiences of Arab populations. The adapted survey will be used to collect quantitative data and generate perceived walkability scores across a sample of
neighbourhoods in the Metropolitan Toronto. The findings of the dissertation are expected to guide interventions targeting chronic disease prevention and inform urban planning
strategies focusing on the creation of inclusive neighbourhoods.
Recent Work and Activities